Hanger for ears of corn.



. 1. RICE.

HANGER FOR EARS 0F CORN.

APPLICATION man AUG-21, 1913.

Patented Jan. 2, 1917.

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witnesses.

REYNOLD J. RICE, OF WATERLOO, IOWA.

HANGER FOR EARS OF CORN.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 2, 191'7.

Application filed August 21, 1913. Serial No. 785,927.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, REYNOLD J. RICE, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Waterloo, Blackhawk county, Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hangers for Ears of Corn, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in hangers for cars of corn, and the object of my improvement is to furnish a hanging device formed of detachably connected interlinked parts, each part having securingmeans for ears of corn suitable to hold the ears apart in proper positions for drying and preservation. This object I have accomplished by the means which are hereinafter described and claimed, and which are illustrated in the accompanying drawlngs, in which:

Figure 1 is an elevation of a plurality of theinterlinked hanger parts as suspended, and as holding a number of ears of corn, on a reduced scale. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of one of the detachable hanger parts, full size. Fig. 3 is an upper plan view of one of the said hanger parts, full size.

Similar numerals of reference denote corresponding parts throughout the several views.

It has been my purpose to supply a hanging-means for ears of seed corn, which will be not only simple and inexpensive, but also having its parts capable of quick detachment for convenient storage or transportation. With this end in view, I have formed each hanger part 1 of a single piece of rather stifi wire, bent into the form shown,

described as follows: Each hanger part is first bent medially to form a semi-circular medial curve or loop 5, each of the members extending parallel in one direction from said loop, being then bent at a short distance from the loop to produce down-turned portions 4 convergingly, and then bent again outwardly to produce angles 6 with short oblique downwardly and outwardly directed parts 3 in the same plane as the parts 4, sa1d members being then again bent at the angles 7 to produce oblique upwardly and outwardly directed extremities 2, also lying in the same plane.

A plurality of said devices may be readil connected together by slipping the loope part 5 of one device between the parts 4 of another device, and drawing the first up until the loop 5 on the second. device embraces and is secured about the angles 6 of the latter device. In this position, the lowermost device is securely suspended from the uppermost device, the outwardly sloping parts 3 of the upper device preventing the loop 5 of the lower device from slipping, and holding it securely in place. As many of these devices may be thus connected detachably together as may be desired, and the loop 5 of the uppermost device may be then hung on a nail or other object 9. The parts 2 may be sharpened, as shown in Fig. 1, at their extreme points, although that is not absolutely essential, since it is easy to push the ends of the parts 2 into the basal portions of the cobs of the ears 8, the ears then being supported on said parts in an obliquely upward direction, as indicated .in said Fig. 1.

The piercing of the cobs tends to aerate them, and aSSiSt in the drying process, while the supporting of the ears, separated as shown, keeps them distinct from each other, and easy of identification when preserved for seed.

The seed devices 1 may be disassembled by drawing down the loop 5 on the uppermost device, turning the device to one side, and withdrawing it between the parts 4 of the lower device. Since these devices are small and lie mostly within the same plane, many of them may be packed in a receptacle for storage, or transportation, using comparatively little storage space. Since the loopedparts 5 transmit the weight of the suspended load to the inclined parts 3 of the device above, said parts 3 are, by reason of their obliquity,. drawn together elastically, and thus securely held from spreading.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A seed-corn hanger, consisting of a plu- I rality of like bodies detachably linked together, each body being an elastic rod doubled over to form a medial loop extending angularly to one side of spaced members, the members being oppositely bent to form their extremities into upwardl directed prongs, and the loop of each rod eing linked about the members of the rod immediately above at the location of outward bending of said prongs.

2. A device of the character described,

comprisin a plurality of interlocked units, each of sald units being formed from a single piece of wire bent upon itself to form spaced elongated strands capable of relative 5 movement, the free extremities of which are "directed laterally and upwardly to afford impaling prongs, the opposite end portions of the strands being flexed angularly to afford an engaging means adapted to coact 10 with the impaling prongs of an adjacent unit, said impaling prongs being positioned in substantially the same longitudinal plane occupied by the spaced strands.

Signed at Waterloo, Iowa this 2nd day of Aug. 1913.

' REYN OLD J. RICE.

Witnesses:

WIRT P. Hoxm, G. G. KENNEDY. 

